Report of the 2016 Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Sub-Committee on Ecosystems (Madrid, Spain 5-9 Sept 2016)

The Sub-Committee on Ecosystems Intersessional meeting was held in Madrid, Spain from 5 to 9 September. The Sub-Committee (SC-Eco) discussed the progress made towards the feasibility of and provision of information towards implementing ecosystems based fisheries management (EBFM), as well as the possibility of liaising with other t-RFMOs to discuss issues of mutual relevance and benefit. As regards the by-catch component, the SC-Eco: examined the trend of annual by-catch in number and rate of seabirds, as a first step in the evaluation of the effect of the new mitigation measures; estimated total number of sea turtles accidently caught by longline fisheries to evaluate the impact of ICCAT fisheries on these reptiles.